3 ms·

By presenting a mystery without any reason why else you might be interested other than the fact that it _might_ be a mystery. Many people prefer titles to be a

By presenting a mystery without any reason why else you might be interested other than the fact that it _might_ be a mystery. Many people prefer titles to be an accurate and concise summary of the article, rather than relying on emotional tricks to get you to visit an external website find out what it's actually about. On a news aggregator site like HN, an accurate title is nicer because it respects your time and lets you choose your content. Mysteries are interesting, so humans want to solve them. If the article turns out to be something uninteresting or something not to do with the headline, then the reader has wasted their time and the author and the website is being dishonest and being rewarded for it by clicks.

wredue 3y ago
Clickbait usually has titles like: A dozen endangered elephants died. The reason will shock you!
- samplatt 3y ago
  That's the same thing, but presented even more bluntly as an open appeal to your baser desire for a mystery, but it's still clickbait nonetheless - it's presenting itself as a mystery without any further reason information other than "elephants died". "Endangered" is emotional content without any further information; all elephants are endangered (or at the very least vulnerable) so this is another hint that the title is emotional (clickbait) driven rather than a useful summary. The Guardian aims itself at people who like to consider themselves more intelligent than the average bear. The clickbait will therefore be toned down a little. Some people still prefer it to not exist at all, if possible.
  - jrflowers 3y ago
    I cannot stand these clickbait titles that explain the content of the article. I only read news where the article is zalgo text renderings of Bukowski quotes. Real news should have titles so off putting and repulsive that only geniuses in the throws of lunacy might dare click. What kind of baby society has conditioned us to expect “short summaries” as the title to an article? The only appropriate title for this article is a word-for-word copy-and-paste of the entire text of the book 1984.
jancsika 3y ago
> By presenting a mystery without any reason why else you might be interested other than the fact that it _might_ be a mystery. In the article, they claim it was a mystery and have a link to a previous story they published in September about said mystery. > If the article turns out to be something uninteresting or something not to do with the headline, then the reader has wasted their time and the author and the website is being dishonest and being rewarded for it by clicks. That's about the nicest concise definition of clickbait I've ever read! It's also exactly the reason why this article does not qualify as click bait: 1. The answer is interesting to anyone who cares about elephants (and if you clicked the headline link I assume you care about elephants) 2. The answer in the article is literally the answer to the headline. Please consider the distinction between a) annoying headline links that require you to click to get the answer, and b) clickbait-- by your own definition-- which leaves you with uninteresting/non-relevant content to what was claimed in the link If you overload clickbait to mean both things, you might erroneously reply with a buffer too large for the type of definition you meant and accidentally pad with private key material

wredue 3y ago

Clickbait usually has titles like: A dozen endangered elephants died. The reason will shock you!

samplatt 3y ago
That's the same thing, but presented even more bluntly as an open appeal to your baser desire for a mystery, but it's still clickbait nonetheless - it's presenting itself as a mystery without any further reason information other than "elephants died". "Endangered" is emotional content without any further information; all elephants are endangered (or at the very least vulnerable) so this is another hint that the title is emotional (clickbait) driven rather than a useful summary. The Guardian aims itself at people who like to consider themselves more intelligent than the average bear. The clickbait will therefore be toned down a little. Some people still prefer it to not exist at all, if possible.
- jrflowers 3y ago
  I cannot stand these clickbait titles that explain the content of the article. I only read news where the article is zalgo text renderings of Bukowski quotes. Real news should have titles so off putting and repulsive that only geniuses in the throws of lunacy might dare click. What kind of baby society has conditioned us to expect “short summaries” as the title to an article? The only appropriate title for this article is a word-for-word copy-and-paste of the entire text of the book 1984.

jancsika 3y ago

> By presenting a mystery without any reason why else you might be interested other than the fact that it _might_ be a mystery. In the article, they claim it was a mystery and have a link to a previous story they published in September about said mystery. > If the article turns out to be something uninteresting or something not to do with the headline, then the reader has wasted their time and the author and the website is being dishonest and being rewarded for it by clicks. That's about the nicest concise definition of clickbait I've ever read! It's also exactly the reason why this article does not qualify as click bait: 1. The answer is interesting to anyone who cares about elephants (and if you clicked the headline link I assume you care about elephants) 2. The answer in the article is literally the answer to the headline. Please consider the distinction between a) annoying headline links that require you to click to get the answer, and b) clickbait-- by your own definition-- which leaves you with uninteresting/non-relevant content to what was claimed in the link If you overload clickbait to mean both things, you might erroneously reply with a buffer too large for the type of definition you meant and accidentally pad with private key material